Transcript
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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RAJARSHI RAY: Hello, everyone.
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In this accelerator, we will go through the process
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of visualizing Inventor CAD data in 3ds Max using
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Arnold as a renderer.
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Before we get started, here is a safe harbor statement
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for your reference.
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About me-- myself is Rajarshi Ray.
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I've been working with Autodesk as a senior technical account
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specialist.
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I am a subject matter expert in many products,
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which include Maya, 3ds Max Motion Builder, and Mudbox.
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Prior to Autodesk, I was working as a computer graphics
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engineer and technical artist for various animation studios.
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So what is an Autodesk Accelerator?
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So Autodesk Accelerators are designed
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to help your team stay ahead of the curve with the latest
00:59
workflow.
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They include courses, videos, and live coaching, which
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is what we are doing today.
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You can see a full list of topics on the Customer Success
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Hub.
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So what are the learning objectives of this accelerator?
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First, we are going to have a look on the Inventor side,
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where we will prepare our CAD data inside the Inventor.
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And we will also look into the
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to be involved before we bring the Inventor
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file inside the 3ds Max.
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Then we will import the CAD data inside the 3ds Max.
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We'll look into the material side,
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whether we need to use the material converter or not.
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Then we'll look into the light and the staging
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part of Inventor data inside the 3ds Max.
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And then we'll finally render it out using the Arnold.
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Also, we are going to look into the best practices involved
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using the Arnold renderer.
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So overall workflow is preparing your model inside the Inventor.
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Then prepare 3ds Max before importing.
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And then once we bring the Inventor
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file inside the 3ds Max, we will apply the material.
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We will use Material Converter if it is needed.
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We'll do the part of the lighting and staging.
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And then we will start with the Arnold renderer.
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Now, let's start with model preparation
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inside the Inventor.
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All physical materials applied to a model,
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including the default material, have an appearance
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associated with them.
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These appearances can be edited or changed any time
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that you like.
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And it's not only possible to change
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the appearance of a component.
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You can also change the appearance
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of an individual face.
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By selecting a component or the face of a component,
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you can use the pull-down in the Quick Access toolbar
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to change which appearance is being applied to the selected
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entity.
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Inventor comes with three standard libraries
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of appearance built in, the Autodesk Appearance
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Library, Autodesk Material Library,
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and Inventor Material Library.
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If you make modifications to an appearance override
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in the model, that modified appearance
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will also be stored in the model.
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So the Appearance Editor will take you
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to a list of all the appearance overrides currently
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or previously used in the model.
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Below that will be a list of the appearances
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included in the active library.
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Selecting one of these appearance overrides
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and choosing Edit will give you ability
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to modify individual elements of their appearance.
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The options that are available for edit
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are based on the type of material that was selected.
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Types of metals offer different options
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than plastic, glasses, or wood.
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A shortcut pull-down can be found
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in the lower part of the editing dialog that
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will allow you to change which class of material
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you are working with or duplicate the selected material
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as a template for a new one.
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Now, let's start preparing our 3ds Max before we
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import Inventor files into it.
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Let's start choosing the correct workspace.
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The workspace features lets you switch
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really quick among any number of different interface setups.
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It can restore custom arrangement
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of toolbars, menus, viewport, layout, preset, and so on.
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So we will choose a design workspace for our job.
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All we need to do is we need to go to the Workspace Selector.
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And in Workspace dropdown list, we
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can choose the Design Workspace.
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We are going to show it in our next slide.
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Once the 3ds Max is started, it will
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load with default workspace.
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To access the workspace, you go on the right top-hand corner
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and click on this bar here and choose Design Standard.
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Once the Design Standard Workspace is loaded,
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you will see all the relevant tools in the menu.
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Now, let's look into the system unit setup.
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All dimensions are displayed in the new unit.
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Essentially, you are using a new measuring stick.
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No object is change in this process,
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as in the physical world, objects in the scene
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maintain their absolute size, regardless
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of how you measured them.
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It is extremely important to manage
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the unit system in the 3ds Max before importing an Inventor
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file.
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If Inventor data is made in metric--
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also US standard unit system--
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we need to choose a similar unit system inside the 3ds Max.
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Changing system unit value before you import or create
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geometry is always advisable.
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Do not change the system unit in an existing scene.
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Because of the nature of digital floating point calculation,
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distances that are extremely large or extremely small
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can cause a round-off error.
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Here are some guidelines that I would
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like to mention to avoid this problem.
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Make sure your scene is roughly centered around the origin.
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That is 0, 0, 0.
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Round-off corner increases at larger distances
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from the origin.
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Make sure no significant detail in the scene
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is smaller than one generic 3ds Max unit.
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It is extremely important to change the system unit
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before you import your Inventor CAD model.
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To change the system unit, all you need to do
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is go to the Customize.
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Click on the Unit Setup.
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And in Display Unit Scale, all you need to find out
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is what is the system unit or the display unit being
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used in your Inventor file.
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So you should choose either metric or the US standard.
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So once you have chosen the metric system or the US
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standard, you need to go to the system unit setup
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and then calculate what should be the system unit scale.
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Is it one unit, one centimeter?
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Or is it one unit in one meter?
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So accordingly to your choice, you
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should choose the system unit.
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Once it is done, you click OK and then OK.
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I choose a metric.
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And here, I'll choose one unit is one meter.
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So that means that one in grid line is the one meter.
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So that's all calculation purposes.
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Click OK, then another OK.
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You're all set now.
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Let's look at setting up the project folder.
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So the first time you start 3ds Max, the default project folder
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is your local 3ds Max folder.
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The path for this might depend on the operating
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system you're using.
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You can use Set Active Project to specify
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a different location.
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When you set the project folder, 3ds Max automatically
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creates a series of folder within it,
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such as "scene," "render out," and so on.
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Saving or running a file from the browser
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uses this location by default. So using a consistent project
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folder structure among the team members
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is a good practice for both organization
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and sharing the file.
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When you set the project folder, 3ds Max
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might display a warning that some files are not valid.
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If that scene you are working on belongs to the project
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that you have chosen, it is safe to disregard this warning.
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Let's go ahead and check how the project folder
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structure is organized and how you can do that.
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It is extremely important to create your project folder
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before you start working with the 3ds Max.
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So to create your project folder,
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we need to go to the File, Project.
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Create a Default Project.
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So let's click here.
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I'm going to go to my C Folder, C Drive.
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In the C Drive, I have a folder, 3ds Max Project.
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I choose this and create Select Folder.
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Once I have done, all the project
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will be saved inside that project folder.
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And all the corresponding folder structure
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will be created inside this project folder.
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So just to check it, I am opening my browser.
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And if I go to my project folder, as you can see,
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I have created my project folder here.
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All the corresponding required project
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folder has been created inside this project folder.
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So on overall workflow, we have just
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finished preparing our
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Inventor files.
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Now, we will go to 3ds Max to import Inventor file inside
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of it.
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So importing Inventor data into 3ds Max--
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you can import Inventor file as a body object.
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This allows geometry in the SCIS solid format
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to remain in that format while in 3ds Max.
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To output this format, use the SAT Exporter.
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The components of model that you import into 3ds Max
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retain their object naming as assigned in Autodesk Inventor
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and can be brought in either as editable mesh or body object.
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Once imported, we can edit the model
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just as we do on any other type of object we construct.
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So you can apply modifier, alter materials,
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add lighting and cameras, and create an image, and so on.
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Constraint and joint drive and emission inputs to 3ds Max
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are baked key frames.
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You can create high-quality mechanical design animation
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and view it in 3ds Max without having to use 3ds Max
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ICA and the rigging features.
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So there are a few limitations which I'm going to cover here.
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So camera animation paths are not converted in 3ds Max.
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So any animation you have set up in Inventory
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is lost during the import.
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Lighting from the brightness and the ambient setting created
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in the Inventor files are not imported.
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So you have to do it inside the 3ds Max.
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Dragging and the dropping an Inventor file into 3ds Max
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uses the setting last set in the Inventor.
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So File Import dialog with the except for Mesh Resolution,
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which always resets to zero.
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Material side and material assignments
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made to the original Inventor models
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and data retained as you import the geometry
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inside the 3ds Max, materials are imported
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as an architectural material.
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Or if a single object has several materials assigned
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to it, they are imported as a multi/sub-object material.
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To import .ipt and .iam file, you need to go to File, Import,
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and choose the format of Inventor.
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As you can see, Autodesk Inventor .ipt and .iam file--
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and I'm going to choose the DIFF ASSEMBLY.
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And once you click the DIFF ASSEMBLY and check it open,
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the Autodesk Inventor file import option will open.
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And you can import it as a body object
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or you can use it as a mesh.
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So all the body objects, the way it is prepared in the Inventor,
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it will come inside the 3ds Max as it is.
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You can edit the material.
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You can create animation.
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You can add light and cameras.
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And the mesh, it will convert the entire body object
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to the mesh.
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So usually, we choose Body Object.
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And then the default setting-- reference duplicate parts
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to create layer by material.
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And all the layers will be created by the material.
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And if you already have a scene and you
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want to import and merge the model inside the current scene,
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you can choose it.
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And this is very important.
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Import the Inventor material.
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Whatever material has been applied in the Inventor,
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that will be imported inside the 3ds Max, as well.
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And once you choose the mesh, you
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can choose the mesh resolution over here.
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Keeping everything as a default, we're going to hit OK.
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And the import process will start.
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Our model has been imported.
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Once I select this and enlarge the perspective camera,
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you can toggle and see the different parts of this model
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that has been imported.
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And we can go to Tools, Scene Explorer.
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And all the naming convention that is given in the Inventor
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has been preserved here.
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We can enlarge it.
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And you can see the different part of the model
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has been imported.
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Now, in overall workflow model, we
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are going to see the material part in 3ds Max.
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So let's start applying material in 3ds Max.
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Material creates a greater realism in a scene.
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And material describes how an object reflects or transmits
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light.
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Material properties work in hand with light properties,
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shadings, and rendering combining the two,
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simulating how the object would look in a real-world setting.
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The Material Editor provides function
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to create and edit material and map.
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For this case, we use a Slate Material Editor,
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as it is more versatile.
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Once the object is imported, we are
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going to check the material of the imported model.
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So material and material assignment
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made to the original Inventor model and data
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are retained and imported along with the geometry.
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And material are imported as an architectural material.
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Or if a single object has several materials assigned
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to it, they are imported as a multi and sub-object material.
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To see the material, we need to go to the Rendering
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and open the Material Editor.
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We can choose either Compact Material Editor
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or Slate Material Editor.
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So I'm going to choose Slate Material Editor.
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So the Slate Material Editor--
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once you are here, you have to come under the Scene Material.
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So the Scene Material will list all the incoming
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or all the scene material that is already
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present in the scene.
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So I can currently see that aluminum, polished,
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aluminum polished, and the brass satin chrome,
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these are assigned to this model.
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Any time I need more information for those materials,
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I can double-click and zoom in to the Slate Material
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and see those material in detail with all the attributes.
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If I need to change any color or any material
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properties of this model, I need to change it here.
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So now, in overall workflow diagram,
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we will be reviewing the Material Converter.
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Scene Converter allows you to take advantage
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of numerous presets for different renderers,
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such as Arnold or first cloud renderers
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like A360 without tedious manual conversion requirements.
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It is also ideal for users migrating scenes
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to use in real-time gain engine, like 3ds Max
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Interactive, Unity, Unreal.
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You can easily customize and fine-tune
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the existing conversion script using a simple interface
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to create source-to-target badge conversion rule.
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The Scene Converter's capabilities
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can be extended at any time using new script from Autodesk
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and the user community.
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The script-based converters can be
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fine-tuned to meet your individual requirement.
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Since we will be using Arnold as a renderer
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to render this model, we have to convert those existing
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materials from architectural material to physical material.
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For that, we need to go to Rendering.
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And in Rendering, we will be taking
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advantage of Scene Converter.
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This is a very good tool to convert all your existing
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material to the physical-based material.
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So in current presets, you can choose any of the renderers
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that you wish to render and convert
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your corresponding material.
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So for my case, we are going to choose Arnold.
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And once it is chosen, we can check the material setting.
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As it says, mental ray arc and the design
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to physical material, Autodesk Material to Physical Material--
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then Missing Material to the Physical Material.
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So all the existing material will
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be converted to the physical material, which
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will be rendered in Arnold.
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So with this selected, I'll just hit Convert Scene.
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And it started converting it.
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As you can see, it has converted 176 materials.
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And also, our existing camera also
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will be changed to the physical camera.
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Now, in overall workflow, we are currently
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on lighting and staging.
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So let's jump into the lighting and staging part of 3ds Max.
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Although the photometric lights work very well
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with Arnold Renderer, the 3ds Max
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provides you with Arnold lighting
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that are specifically meant to be used with this renderer.
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It has a parameter that is geared towards the rendering
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using the Arnold.
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To access the Lighting menu, we need
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to come to the Create Panel, choose the Light,
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and from dropdown, we choose Arnold Lighting.
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Once we have chosen, we can click on the Arnold Light
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and select the specific type of the light
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that we are going to use for our scene.
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So as a type, we have a Point, Distance, Sport, Quad, Skydome.
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So for our scene, we are going to use Skydome.
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So we select the Skydome and click anywhere in our scene.
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As you can see, our light has been added to our scene.
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Now, using the MAXtoA plugin that
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is being used in 3ds Max for Arnold Renderer,
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it provides some automatic, optimized, and image-based
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lighting from environment.
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So we can use HDRI Image to map inside the light
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we added to our scene to light up the entire scene properly.
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So there are two things.
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One is Mode and another one is the Physical-Based.
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This Physical-Based mode sets the scene up
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in an optional way for a standard usage scenario.
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The scene environment is used to provide
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illumination and the reflection to the scene.
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And the background color map provides a black plate
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to the camera.
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In this mode, Arnold automatically
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places a hidden geometry that is called a Skydome in the scene
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to provide an improved and the faster IBL rendering.
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In Advanced mode, we can enable full customization
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for the behavior of both the environment and background.
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In this mode, you have accessed the parameters
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of the automatically created Skydome
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and can adjust or even disable the features.
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It still uses the environment map defined in the Environment
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Effects dialog box.
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In Advanced mode, if the background
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is set to the scene environment, you
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can control how the background is
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visible to the camera and other scene elements.
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As you can see, we have applied an HDRI bitmap over here
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to light up our scene using the Skydome and image-based
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lighting.
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Now, overall workflow-- we are in Arnold Renderer stage.
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We are going to set our scene with the Arnold plugin.
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And then we will go for Arnold Renderer.
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So let's start with the Arnold Renderer.
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So a quick introduction about Arnold--
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Arnold is an advanced brute-force Monte Carlo
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ray tracing renderer built for the demand
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of feature-length animation and the visual effects movies.
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This is also a high-quality rendering engine.
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In 3ds Max, realistic rendering is easier than ever
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with the brute-force Monte Carlo ray tracer.
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The physically based rendering in Arnold
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accurately simulates light in real world,
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but also allows you to break physical laws
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to achieve artistic style.
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MAXtoA-- this is the name of the plugin
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which allows you to use the Arnold Renderer directly
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in 3ds Max.
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So before we get started and fire our scene with the Arnold
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Renderer, we need to set up the Arnold renderer for our scene.
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To choose Arnold Renderer, we need
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to go to the Renderer Setup and choose Arnold
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as a production, as well as Active Shade.
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The Active Shade helps us to see the render image interactively.
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So whenever there are any changes in the scene,
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that will be reflected in Active Shade mode.
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Rendering can also take place on multiple systems
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by using Network Renderer.
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The Renderer Setup dialog box has multiple panels.
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As you can see here, we have a common Arnold renderer system
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with these diagnostics.
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The number and the name of the panel
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can change depending on the active renderer.
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These panels are always present.
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So common panel, as you can see, contains the general controls
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for rendering, such as whether to render
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a still image or an animation, setting the resolution
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of rendered output, and so on.
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Renderer Panel contains the main controls
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for the active renderer.
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A quick tip is each renderer has different and unique
25:03
capabilities.
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Based on this, you need to decide
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which renderer you want to use for such scenes.
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But for this purpose, we are going to use Arnold Renderer.
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In this video, we will see how to load Arnold as a renderer
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and also apply an HDRI environment map to the light
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and hit our first render.
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So to load Arnold as a renderer, we go on Renderer Setup.
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As you can see, Target Active Shade Mode, Renderer ART
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Renderer.
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So we need to scroll down and go to the Assigned Renderer.
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Under the Assigned Renderer, under Production,
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we will choose Arnold as a renderer.
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Also, Active Shade-- we need to activate the Active Shade
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Arnold Renderer so that we can interactively
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check our renderer image.
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All done.
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Now, with this, we are going to hit our fast render
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and see how your image looks like.
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So in the dropdown menu, we select the Active Shade mode
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and wait for the render to happen.
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So this is the render.
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It is still in progress.
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As you can see, it is slowly rendering.
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Now, we select the light.
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Under Modify panel, when Arnold Light is selected,
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we scroll down.
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And in Texture, we map an HDRI image.
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To map the HDRI image, we select the bitmap.
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And then we choose one HDRI image.
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As you can see, the je_gray_park_4k.exr--
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we select this.
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And we try to map this as an environment.
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Click OK.
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As you can see, the minute it has been applied,
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it started getting updated.
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Now, we go to Rendering Under Rendering, Material Editor,
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Slate Material Editor--
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in Slate Material Editor, we drag this map here
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as an instance and choose--
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as a coordinate, we choose Environment.
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And we choose as a mapping Spherical.
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It will cast the ray from the HDRI image
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from all directions as a spherical direction.
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As you can see, this has started getting rendered.
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It will take some time.
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We can zoom a little bit to see more in detail.
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So we are in an Active Shade mode.
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We can take it.
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This is a draft view of your render.
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Once we go to the Render Setup and Target Mode,
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we choose the target mode as a production rendering mode.
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And hit the Render.
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It will give us a much more detailed render image.
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So it is still rendering and that's how the render happens
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in Arnold.
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Now, on overall workflow, we are on the last stage of reviewing
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Arnold best practices.
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So let's start with the best practice-- not much.
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We will just cover the different denoisers
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that you can use to enhance your render.
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So the Optix Denoiser is actually
28:58
based on the Nvidia artificial intelligence technology.
29:01
It is available as a post-processing effect.
29:04
This imager also exposes additional controls
29:08
for clamping and blending the result.
29:11
Denoiser is actually meant to be used during the IPR
29:16
so that you get a very quickly denoised image as you
29:20
are moving the camera and making the other adjustments.
29:23
Also, the Arnold Denoiser can be run from dedicated UI exposed
29:29
in the Denoiser tab and is suitable for when
29:32
you want to create a high-quality final render.
29:35
It is also available as a standalone program.
29:39
Now, let's see helpful resources.
29:43
The most important resource is Customer Success Hub.
29:46
In this hub, you would probably find this recording
29:49
of this accelerator, as well.
29:51
Customer Success Hub enables you to unlock
29:54
the potential of technology and data
29:57
by providing you hundreds of videos and technical articles.
30:01
Hope you enjoy this video.
00:00
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03
RAJARSHI RAY: Hello, everyone.
00:05
In this accelerator, we will go through the process
00:07
of visualizing Inventor CAD data in 3ds Max using
00:12
Arnold as a renderer.
00:14
Before we get started, here is a safe harbor statement
00:18
for your reference.
00:27
About me-- myself is Rajarshi Ray.
00:29
I've been working with Autodesk as a senior technical account
00:33
specialist.
00:34
I am a subject matter expert in many products,
00:37
which include Maya, 3ds Max Motion Builder, and Mudbox.
00:41
Prior to Autodesk, I was working as a computer graphics
00:45
engineer and technical artist for various animation studios.
00:50
So what is an Autodesk Accelerator?
00:53
So Autodesk Accelerators are designed
00:55
to help your team stay ahead of the curve with the latest
00:59
workflow.
01:00
They include courses, videos, and live coaching, which
01:05
is what we are doing today.
01:07
You can see a full list of topics on the Customer Success
01:11
Hub.
01:13
So what are the learning objectives of this accelerator?
01:17
First, we are going to have a look on the Inventor side,
01:20
where we will prepare our CAD data inside the Inventor.
01:23
And we will also look into the
01:27
to be involved before we bring the Inventor
01:30
file inside the 3ds Max.
01:32
Then we will import the CAD data inside the 3ds Max.
01:35
We'll look into the material side,
01:37
whether we need to use the material converter or not.
01:41
Then we'll look into the light and the staging
01:43
part of Inventor data inside the 3ds Max.
01:46
And then we'll finally render it out using the Arnold.
01:50
Also, we are going to look into the best practices involved
01:53
using the Arnold renderer.
01:56
So overall workflow is preparing your model inside the Inventor.
02:02
Then prepare 3ds Max before importing.
02:06
And then once we bring the Inventor
02:08
file inside the 3ds Max, we will apply the material.
02:11
We will use Material Converter if it is needed.
02:16
We'll do the part of the lighting and staging.
02:19
And then we will start with the Arnold renderer.
02:23
Now, let's start with model preparation
02:25
inside the Inventor.
02:27
All physical materials applied to a model,
02:30
including the default material, have an appearance
02:33
associated with them.
02:35
These appearances can be edited or changed any time
02:39
that you like.
02:40
And it's not only possible to change
02:42
the appearance of a component.
02:44
You can also change the appearance
02:47
of an individual face.
02:50
By selecting a component or the face of a component,
02:54
you can use the pull-down in the Quick Access toolbar
02:58
to change which appearance is being applied to the selected
03:02
entity.
03:03
Inventor comes with three standard libraries
03:06
of appearance built in, the Autodesk Appearance
03:09
Library, Autodesk Material Library,
03:12
and Inventor Material Library.
03:15
If you make modifications to an appearance override
03:19
in the model, that modified appearance
03:21
will also be stored in the model.
03:25
So the Appearance Editor will take you
03:27
to a list of all the appearance overrides currently
03:31
or previously used in the model.
03:34
Below that will be a list of the appearances
03:37
included in the active library.
03:40
Selecting one of these appearance overrides
03:43
and choosing Edit will give you ability
03:46
to modify individual elements of their appearance.
03:50
The options that are available for edit
03:53
are based on the type of material that was selected.
03:56
Types of metals offer different options
03:59
than plastic, glasses, or wood.
04:02
A shortcut pull-down can be found
04:05
in the lower part of the editing dialog that
04:08
will allow you to change which class of material
04:11
you are working with or duplicate the selected material
04:15
as a template for a new one.
04:18
Now, let's start preparing our 3ds Max before we
04:22
import Inventor files into it.
04:25
Let's start choosing the correct workspace.
04:29
The workspace features lets you switch
04:31
really quick among any number of different interface setups.
04:35
It can restore custom arrangement
04:38
of toolbars, menus, viewport, layout, preset, and so on.
04:44
So we will choose a design workspace for our job.
04:49
All we need to do is we need to go to the Workspace Selector.
04:53
And in Workspace dropdown list, we
04:56
can choose the Design Workspace.
04:59
We are going to show it in our next slide.
05:03
Once the 3ds Max is started, it will
05:06
load with default workspace.
05:08
To access the workspace, you go on the right top-hand corner
05:13
and click on this bar here and choose Design Standard.
05:21
Once the Design Standard Workspace is loaded,
05:25
you will see all the relevant tools in the menu.
05:29
Now, let's look into the system unit setup.
05:38
All dimensions are displayed in the new unit.
05:41
Essentially, you are using a new measuring stick.
05:45
No object is change in this process,
05:48
as in the physical world, objects in the scene
05:51
maintain their absolute size, regardless
05:54
of how you measured them.
05:56
It is extremely important to manage
05:58
the unit system in the 3ds Max before importing an Inventor
06:02
file.
06:03
If Inventor data is made in metric--
06:07
also US standard unit system--
06:10
we need to choose a similar unit system inside the 3ds Max.
06:16
Changing system unit value before you import or create
06:20
geometry is always advisable.
06:23
Do not change the system unit in an existing scene.
06:26
Because of the nature of digital floating point calculation,
06:30
distances that are extremely large or extremely small
06:34
can cause a round-off error.
06:36
Here are some guidelines that I would
06:38
like to mention to avoid this problem.
06:41
Make sure your scene is roughly centered around the origin.
06:44
That is 0, 0, 0.
06:47
Round-off corner increases at larger distances
06:50
from the origin.
06:52
Make sure no significant detail in the scene
06:55
is smaller than one generic 3ds Max unit.
06:60
It is extremely important to change the system unit
07:03
before you import your Inventor CAD model.
07:07
To change the system unit, all you need to do
07:10
is go to the Customize.
07:12
Click on the Unit Setup.
07:15
And in Display Unit Scale, all you need to find out
07:19
is what is the system unit or the display unit being
07:23
used in your Inventor file.
07:25
So you should choose either metric or the US standard.
07:30
So once you have chosen the metric system or the US
07:33
standard, you need to go to the system unit setup
07:38
and then calculate what should be the system unit scale.
07:42
Is it one unit, one centimeter?
07:44
Or is it one unit in one meter?
07:50
So accordingly to your choice, you
07:53
should choose the system unit.
07:55
Once it is done, you click OK and then OK.
07:60
I choose a metric.
08:01
And here, I'll choose one unit is one meter.
08:05
So that means that one in grid line is the one meter.
08:09
So that's all calculation purposes.
08:12
Click OK, then another OK.
08:15
You're all set now.
08:17
Let's look at setting up the project folder.
08:20
So the first time you start 3ds Max, the default project folder
08:24
is your local 3ds Max folder.
08:27
The path for this might depend on the operating
08:30
system you're using.
08:32
You can use Set Active Project to specify
08:35
a different location.
08:37
When you set the project folder, 3ds Max automatically
08:41
creates a series of folder within it,
08:44
such as "scene," "render out," and so on.
08:48
Saving or running a file from the browser
08:51
uses this location by default. So using a consistent project
08:56
folder structure among the team members
08:58
is a good practice for both organization
09:00
and sharing the file.
09:02
When you set the project folder, 3ds Max
09:05
might display a warning that some files are not valid.
09:10
If that scene you are working on belongs to the project
09:13
that you have chosen, it is safe to disregard this warning.
09:17
Let's go ahead and check how the project folder
09:21
structure is organized and how you can do that.
09:25
It is extremely important to create your project folder
09:28
before you start working with the 3ds Max.
09:31
So to create your project folder,
09:33
we need to go to the File, Project.
09:37
Create a Default Project.
09:39
So let's click here.
09:43
I'm going to go to my C Folder, C Drive.
09:47
In the C Drive, I have a folder, 3ds Max Project.
09:50
I choose this and create Select Folder.
09:54
Once I have done, all the project
09:56
will be saved inside that project folder.
09:59
And all the corresponding folder structure
10:02
will be created inside this project folder.
10:05
So just to check it, I am opening my browser.
10:11
And if I go to my project folder, as you can see,
10:14
I have created my project folder here.
10:16
All the corresponding required project
10:18
folder has been created inside this project folder.
10:24
So on overall workflow, we have just
10:27
finished preparing our
10:30
Inventor files.
10:31
Now, we will go to 3ds Max to import Inventor file inside
10:35
of it.
10:36
So importing Inventor data into 3ds Max--
10:41
you can import Inventor file as a body object.
10:45
This allows geometry in the SCIS solid format
10:49
to remain in that format while in 3ds Max.
10:52
To output this format, use the SAT Exporter.
10:57
The components of model that you import into 3ds Max
11:01
retain their object naming as assigned in Autodesk Inventor
11:05
and can be brought in either as editable mesh or body object.
11:11
Once imported, we can edit the model
11:14
just as we do on any other type of object we construct.
11:19
So you can apply modifier, alter materials,
11:22
add lighting and cameras, and create an image, and so on.
11:28
Constraint and joint drive and emission inputs to 3ds Max
11:32
are baked key frames.
11:34
You can create high-quality mechanical design animation
11:38
and view it in 3ds Max without having to use 3ds Max
11:42
ICA and the rigging features.
11:45
So there are a few limitations which I'm going to cover here.
11:49
So camera animation paths are not converted in 3ds Max.
11:54
So any animation you have set up in Inventory
11:56
is lost during the import.
11:58
Lighting from the brightness and the ambient setting created
12:02
in the Inventor files are not imported.
12:04
So you have to do it inside the 3ds Max.
12:07
Dragging and the dropping an Inventor file into 3ds Max
12:10
uses the setting last set in the Inventor.
12:14
So File Import dialog with the except for Mesh Resolution,
12:18
which always resets to zero.
12:21
Material side and material assignments
12:24
made to the original Inventor models
12:26
and data retained as you import the geometry
12:30
inside the 3ds Max, materials are imported
12:33
as an architectural material.
12:35
Or if a single object has several materials assigned
12:38
to it, they are imported as a multi/sub-object material.
12:43
To import .ipt and .iam file, you need to go to File, Import,
12:53
and choose the format of Inventor.
12:56
As you can see, Autodesk Inventor .ipt and .iam file--
13:02
and I'm going to choose the DIFF ASSEMBLY.
13:08
And once you click the DIFF ASSEMBLY and check it open,
13:14
the Autodesk Inventor file import option will open.
13:18
And you can import it as a body object
13:21
or you can use it as a mesh.
13:23
So all the body objects, the way it is prepared in the Inventor,
13:29
it will come inside the 3ds Max as it is.
13:32
You can edit the material.
13:34
You can create animation.
13:35
You can add light and cameras.
13:38
And the mesh, it will convert the entire body object
13:41
to the mesh.
13:43
So usually, we choose Body Object.
13:48
And then the default setting-- reference duplicate parts
13:51
to create layer by material.
13:53
And all the layers will be created by the material.
13:57
And if you already have a scene and you
14:01
want to import and merge the model inside the current scene,
14:04
you can choose it.
14:06
And this is very important.
14:08
Import the Inventor material.
14:10
Whatever material has been applied in the Inventor,
14:14
that will be imported inside the 3ds Max, as well.
14:18
And once you choose the mesh, you
14:21
can choose the mesh resolution over here.
14:26
Keeping everything as a default, we're going to hit OK.
14:31
And the import process will start.
14:35
Our model has been imported.
14:37
Once I select this and enlarge the perspective camera,
14:42
you can toggle and see the different parts of this model
14:47
that has been imported.
14:49
And we can go to Tools, Scene Explorer.
14:55
And all the naming convention that is given in the Inventor
14:58
has been preserved here.
15:01
We can enlarge it.
15:02
And you can see the different part of the model
15:04
has been imported.
15:07
Now, in overall workflow model, we
15:10
are going to see the material part in 3ds Max.
15:15
So let's start applying material in 3ds Max.
15:19
Material creates a greater realism in a scene.
15:22
And material describes how an object reflects or transmits
15:27
light.
15:28
Material properties work in hand with light properties,
15:32
shadings, and rendering combining the two,
15:35
simulating how the object would look in a real-world setting.
15:40
The Material Editor provides function
15:42
to create and edit material and map.
15:45
For this case, we use a Slate Material Editor,
15:50
as it is more versatile.
15:53
Once the object is imported, we are
15:55
going to check the material of the imported model.
15:60
So material and material assignment
16:02
made to the original Inventor model and data
16:05
are retained and imported along with the geometry.
16:08
And material are imported as an architectural material.
16:13
Or if a single object has several materials assigned
16:17
to it, they are imported as a multi and sub-object material.
16:21
To see the material, we need to go to the Rendering
16:26
and open the Material Editor.
16:30
We can choose either Compact Material Editor
16:33
or Slate Material Editor.
16:35
So I'm going to choose Slate Material Editor.
16:39
So the Slate Material Editor--
16:42
once you are here, you have to come under the Scene Material.
16:46
So the Scene Material will list all the incoming
16:50
or all the scene material that is already
16:53
present in the scene.
16:56
So I can currently see that aluminum, polished,
17:01
aluminum polished, and the brass satin chrome,
17:06
these are assigned to this model.
17:12
Any time I need more information for those materials,
17:15
I can double-click and zoom in to the Slate Material
17:20
and see those material in detail with all the attributes.
17:25
If I need to change any color or any material
17:29
properties of this model, I need to change it here.
17:34
So now, in overall workflow diagram,
17:37
we will be reviewing the Material Converter.
17:42
Scene Converter allows you to take advantage
17:45
of numerous presets for different renderers,
17:48
such as Arnold or first cloud renderers
17:52
like A360 without tedious manual conversion requirements.
17:57
It is also ideal for users migrating scenes
18:00
to use in real-time gain engine, like 3ds Max
18:05
Interactive, Unity, Unreal.
18:08
You can easily customize and fine-tune
18:11
the existing conversion script using a simple interface
18:14
to create source-to-target badge conversion rule.
18:18
The Scene Converter's capabilities
18:20
can be extended at any time using new script from Autodesk
18:25
and the user community.
18:27
The script-based converters can be
18:29
fine-tuned to meet your individual requirement.
18:33
Since we will be using Arnold as a renderer
18:37
to render this model, we have to convert those existing
18:41
materials from architectural material to physical material.
18:45
For that, we need to go to Rendering.
18:49
And in Rendering, we will be taking
18:51
advantage of Scene Converter.
18:55
This is a very good tool to convert all your existing
18:58
material to the physical-based material.
19:01
So in current presets, you can choose any of the renderers
19:06
that you wish to render and convert
19:09
your corresponding material.
19:10
So for my case, we are going to choose Arnold.
19:14
And once it is chosen, we can check the material setting.
19:19
As it says, mental ray arc and the design
19:22
to physical material, Autodesk Material to Physical Material--
19:27
then Missing Material to the Physical Material.
19:29
So all the existing material will
19:31
be converted to the physical material, which
19:34
will be rendered in Arnold.
19:37
So with this selected, I'll just hit Convert Scene.
19:43
And it started converting it.
19:45
As you can see, it has converted 176 materials.
19:50
And also, our existing camera also
19:53
will be changed to the physical camera.
19:57
Now, in overall workflow, we are currently
20:00
on lighting and staging.
20:03
So let's jump into the lighting and staging part of 3ds Max.
20:09
Although the photometric lights work very well
20:12
with Arnold Renderer, the 3ds Max
20:15
provides you with Arnold lighting
20:17
that are specifically meant to be used with this renderer.
20:21
It has a parameter that is geared towards the rendering
20:25
using the Arnold.
20:27
To access the Lighting menu, we need
20:29
to come to the Create Panel, choose the Light,
20:32
and from dropdown, we choose Arnold Lighting.
20:38
Once we have chosen, we can click on the Arnold Light
20:42
and select the specific type of the light
20:45
that we are going to use for our scene.
20:48
So as a type, we have a Point, Distance, Sport, Quad, Skydome.
20:53
So for our scene, we are going to use Skydome.
20:57
So we select the Skydome and click anywhere in our scene.
21:01
As you can see, our light has been added to our scene.
21:07
Now, using the MAXtoA plugin that
21:11
is being used in 3ds Max for Arnold Renderer,
21:15
it provides some automatic, optimized, and image-based
21:18
lighting from environment.
21:20
So we can use HDRI Image to map inside the light
21:26
we added to our scene to light up the entire scene properly.
21:32
So there are two things.
21:33
One is Mode and another one is the Physical-Based.
21:37
This Physical-Based mode sets the scene up
21:40
in an optional way for a standard usage scenario.
21:44
The scene environment is used to provide
21:46
illumination and the reflection to the scene.
21:49
And the background color map provides a black plate
21:53
to the camera.
21:54
In this mode, Arnold automatically
21:57
places a hidden geometry that is called a Skydome in the scene
22:01
to provide an improved and the faster IBL rendering.
22:05
In Advanced mode, we can enable full customization
22:09
for the behavior of both the environment and background.
22:13
In this mode, you have accessed the parameters
22:16
of the automatically created Skydome
22:19
and can adjust or even disable the features.
22:23
It still uses the environment map defined in the Environment
22:27
Effects dialog box.
22:29
In Advanced mode, if the background
22:31
is set to the scene environment, you
22:33
can control how the background is
22:35
visible to the camera and other scene elements.
22:39
As you can see, we have applied an HDRI bitmap over here
22:44
to light up our scene using the Skydome and image-based
22:49
lighting.
22:51
Now, overall workflow-- we are in Arnold Renderer stage.
22:55
We are going to set our scene with the Arnold plugin.
22:59
And then we will go for Arnold Renderer.
23:02
So let's start with the Arnold Renderer.
23:05
So a quick introduction about Arnold--
23:08
Arnold is an advanced brute-force Monte Carlo
23:11
ray tracing renderer built for the demand
23:14
of feature-length animation and the visual effects movies.
23:18
This is also a high-quality rendering engine.
23:21
In 3ds Max, realistic rendering is easier than ever
23:26
with the brute-force Monte Carlo ray tracer.
23:29
The physically based rendering in Arnold
23:32
accurately simulates light in real world,
23:35
but also allows you to break physical laws
23:38
to achieve artistic style.
23:41
MAXtoA-- this is the name of the plugin
23:43
which allows you to use the Arnold Renderer directly
23:47
in 3ds Max.
23:49
So before we get started and fire our scene with the Arnold
23:54
Renderer, we need to set up the Arnold renderer for our scene.
23:59
To choose Arnold Renderer, we need
24:01
to go to the Renderer Setup and choose Arnold
24:04
as a production, as well as Active Shade.
24:08
The Active Shade helps us to see the render image interactively.
24:12
So whenever there are any changes in the scene,
24:15
that will be reflected in Active Shade mode.
24:19
Rendering can also take place on multiple systems
24:22
by using Network Renderer.
24:25
The Renderer Setup dialog box has multiple panels.
24:28
As you can see here, we have a common Arnold renderer system
24:32
with these diagnostics.
24:34
The number and the name of the panel
24:36
can change depending on the active renderer.
24:40
These panels are always present.
24:42
So common panel, as you can see, contains the general controls
24:46
for rendering, such as whether to render
24:48
a still image or an animation, setting the resolution
24:52
of rendered output, and so on.
24:55
Renderer Panel contains the main controls
24:58
for the active renderer.
24:60
A quick tip is each renderer has different and unique
25:03
capabilities.
25:04
Based on this, you need to decide
25:07
which renderer you want to use for such scenes.
25:10
But for this purpose, we are going to use Arnold Renderer.
25:14
In this video, we will see how to load Arnold as a renderer
25:19
and also apply an HDRI environment map to the light
25:24
and hit our first render.
25:26
So to load Arnold as a renderer, we go on Renderer Setup.
25:34
As you can see, Target Active Shade Mode, Renderer ART
25:38
Renderer.
25:40
So we need to scroll down and go to the Assigned Renderer.
25:45
Under the Assigned Renderer, under Production,
25:48
we will choose Arnold as a renderer.
25:51
Also, Active Shade-- we need to activate the Active Shade
25:55
Arnold Renderer so that we can interactively
25:58
check our renderer image.
26:01
All done.
26:03
Now, with this, we are going to hit our fast render
26:07
and see how your image looks like.
26:11
So in the dropdown menu, we select the Active Shade mode
26:15
and wait for the render to happen.
26:19
So this is the render.
26:21
It is still in progress.
26:24
As you can see, it is slowly rendering.
26:29
Now, we select the light.
26:34
Under Modify panel, when Arnold Light is selected,
26:38
we scroll down.
26:41
And in Texture, we map an HDRI image.
26:46
To map the HDRI image, we select the bitmap.
26:55
And then we choose one HDRI image.
26:60
As you can see, the je_gray_park_4k.exr--
27:04
we select this.
27:06
And we try to map this as an environment.
27:09
Click OK.
27:11
As you can see, the minute it has been applied,
27:14
it started getting updated.
27:17
Now, we go to Rendering Under Rendering, Material Editor,
27:22
Slate Material Editor--
27:25
in Slate Material Editor, we drag this map here
27:33
as an instance and choose--
27:37
as a coordinate, we choose Environment.
27:42
And we choose as a mapping Spherical.
27:49
It will cast the ray from the HDRI image
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from all directions as a spherical direction.
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As you can see, this has started getting rendered.
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It will take some time.
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We can zoom a little bit to see more in detail.
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So we are in an Active Shade mode.
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We can take it.
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This is a draft view of your render.
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Once we go to the Render Setup and Target Mode,
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we choose the target mode as a production rendering mode.
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And hit the Render.
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It will give us a much more detailed render image.
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So it is still rendering and that's how the render happens
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in Arnold.
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Now, on overall workflow, we are on the last stage of reviewing
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Arnold best practices.
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So let's start with the best practice-- not much.
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We will just cover the different denoisers
28:51
that you can use to enhance your render.
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So the Optix Denoiser is actually
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based on the Nvidia artificial intelligence technology.
29:01
It is available as a post-processing effect.
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This imager also exposes additional controls
29:08
for clamping and blending the result.
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Denoiser is actually meant to be used during the IPR
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so that you get a very quickly denoised image as you
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are moving the camera and making the other adjustments.
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Also, the Arnold Denoiser can be run from dedicated UI exposed
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in the Denoiser tab and is suitable for when
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you want to create a high-quality final render.
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It is also available as a standalone program.
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Now, let's see helpful resources.
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The most important resource is Customer Success Hub.
29:46
In this hub, you would probably find this recording
29:49
of this accelerator, as well.
29:51
Customer Success Hub enables you to unlock
29:54
the potential of technology and data
29:57
by providing you hundreds of videos and technical articles.
30:01
Hope you enjoy this video.
